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Complementary or alternative medicines (CAM) are used by almost 40% of middle-aged Arab women living in Qatar, according to a study conducted by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers in Doha and New York. |
A survey of 841 women aged 40 to 60 of Qatari and other Arab nationalities found that in the past 12 months 38.2% had used CAM such as special diets, herbal remedies, physical treatments like acupuncture and massage, homoeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, meditation or folk medicine.
The research, which is the first comprehensive study of complementary and alternative medicine use to be conducted in Qatar, has been published in the World Health Organisation’s high profile Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal.
Entitled “Use of complementary and alternative medicine among midlife Arab women living in Qatar,” the paper was authored by Dr Linda M Gerber, professor of Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York (WCMC-NY), along with Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) faculty Dr Ravinder Mamtani, associate dean for Global and Public Health; Dr Sohaila Cheema, director of Global and Public Health; and Dr Mohamud Verjee, associate professor of Family Medicine.
Dr Gerber said the finding merits more attention since the safety and efficacy of CAM may be of concern. Often patients do not tell their doctors about their use of CAM and doctors also often do not ask specifically about non-medicinal or non-conventional therapies, she said.
“We believe it is important to educate and inform patients and providers about the benefits and limitations associated with CAM.”
The participants in the survey were women who had sought healthcare at primary health centres across Qatar. They hailed from many countries across the Arab world, including Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon and Syria.
Ya-Lin Chiu, formerly of WCMC-NY, Dr Abdulbari Bener of Hamad Medical Corporation and Dr Madhuvanti Murphy of the University of the West Indies in Barbados also contributed to the study.
Dr Mamtani explained that complementary and alternative medicines are in many cases beneficial to the health of patients, but that some have little or no effect and others can be harmful, particularly if they interfere with conventional medications prescribed by a qualified physician.
“It is very important for people to discuss whatever complementary medicines they are taking with their doctors to make sure they are not harmful and that they will not produce any dangerous side-effects when taken in combination with their prescribed therapies,” Dr Mamtani said.
“The survey has contributed to an exciting movement towards integrative medicine, in which doctors should work with their patients to co-ordinate conventional treatments with beneficial complementary medicines to deliver the best possible healthcare outcomes,” he added.
The paper is part of a series of studies about the health of women of midlife age in Qatar being conducted by Cornell researchers at WCMC-Q and WCMC-NY with the support of Qatar National Research Fund under the National Priorities Research Programme.
